Russians are very upset with the EU bailout of Cyprus which involved tapping larger bank accounts to pony up the money needed to secure the loan. Russians use banks on the island and could lose billions. I happen to agree that the plan is grossly unfair and penalizes those who have saved their money in a responsible fashion. Yet, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev seems to be channeling not just Lenin but Joe Biden in a recent bizarre public statement that in Cyprus “the stealing of what has already been stolen continues.” The comment left many scratching their heads on precisely what the Russian leader was saying about wealthy Russians.
Medvedev’s comments came in a public meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Shuvalov, when he stated: “Let us, Igor Ivanovich, talk about what’s happening with Cyprus. The stealing of the stolen is continuing there, I think.”
It is an obvious reference to Lenin’s statement on the confiscation of capitalists’ property:
“The old Bolshevik was right when he explained what Bolshevism was to the Cossack who’d asked him if it was true the Bolsheviks stole. ‘Yes, [the Bolshevik] said. ‘We steal what has already been stolen.’”
Lenin himself was building on Karl Marx’s phrase of “expropriation of the expropriators.”
However it is what Medvedev meant that is so intriguing. The Russians are a bit far afield from the “Old Bolshevik.” The wealthy Russians and oligarchs now live like Tsars in London and other cities. Some accounts put Putin’s private fortune at $40 billion and the megalomaniac has built palaces worthy of Peter the Great for his enjoyment.
In this farce, it is Russians who would replace the reference to the expropriators by Marx or the Tsarist capitalists by Lenin. The Cypriots would be in the position of the Bolsheviks. It is an apt description for many Russians who feel that there is now a ruling oligarchy and a separation of the Russian wealthy from the proletariat.
He might have been better with Lenin’s statement: “The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.”
Source: Telegraph
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Cyprus’ banksters broke the cardinal rule. When banks “break in” to private accounts to pay govt. debts, the thin thread of trust in the banks at large has unraveled, at least as far as the West’s banks and their depositors are concerned. When next they open, a run on the banks, then capital controls where folks cannot access or control their own $$$; watch out below!
no head-scratcher here.
all the instant billionaires stole from the nation’s patrimony.
i don’t see how it is not clearly and instantly understood.
no need to channel lenin or anyone else.
The confiscation of personal savings there, as demanded by gov’t officials from outside Cypress, was greatly damaging and I felt desperate and could have long lasting negative consequences.
It undermines the credibility of the entire banking system, and the run on ATM machines is evidence on the initial stages on what could happen. People who lose faith in banks run their money out and are reluctant to deposit money, which leads to lesser funds available to loan out, which constrains the economy and growth in general. This can also undermine confidence in the Euro.
From article: “It is an apt description for many Russians who feel that there is now a ruling oligarchy and a separation of the Russian wealthy from the proletariat.”
********
There were Russians that believed there was no ruling oligarchy or separation of the wealthy from the prols? Hard to believe that there were Russians that slept through hundreds of years of their own history. When was there not a separation of the wealthy from the prols? Anywhere?
Anonymously Yours makes a very true observation that much of the money that seems subject to the “tax” will be Russian that was “earned” in less than honest ways; at least less than honest with respect to our perspective. There is a lot of drug money, illicit arms sales money, prostitution and gambling proceeds, and simply skimmed or kick-back accounts.
But its not all Russian. There are many wealthy western Europeans who have selected Cyprus as their tax haven and the sources of their funds can also be dubious. But not all are. I worked for a British Lord who keeps his legitimately earned money in Cyprus. Of course he kept it there to avoid taxation, so although this new policy is unexpected and doesn’t seem fair, it is far less than what would have been paid in taxes had the companies been registered “at home”.
Like biometrics, I suspect that this move is a harbinger of “no more secrets.”
G.Mason,
“Capitalism left to its own devices will eventually consume itself by way of greed.
Capitalism is ideal within reason and regulation”
Yep. But try telling that to narcissists, egoists and sociopaths. Rules? They don’t need no stinkin’ rules! The universe revolves around their insatiable egos.
Hate to burst a bubble prof…. But these money’s seized are indeed from Russian…. But they are the most likely result if graft, oil money…. And you’ll love it…. Drug money…. These are technically off shore banks…. They had to do something once the Muslims took over the most fertile part of the island….. Quite a cottage industry they set up….
I’ve been following this Cyprus situation for the last few months. It’s amazing the fixes they turned down.
The confusion of government structure is often conducted on purpose, because the public really does not have the time to look at all the motherboards of mechanisms composing various types of government:
(Who Are The Job Creators?). Even Plato used the term “oligarchy” when the proper word was “plutocracy.”
Oilagarchy is probably an accurate description of the Russian System, because they have been major oil exporters for decades:
(Bloomberg). Thus, as money becomes the dominating power it is evaporating the communist bureaucracy residue (which was an Oligarchy) it evolves into a Plutocracy.
The U.S. has similarly evolved:
(Wikipedia, “Plutocracy”). What we need to worry about is the evolution from an Oilagarchy into an Oil-Qaeda, which is the natural progression of that ideology.
Capitalism left to its own devices will eventually consume itself by way of greed.
Capitalism is ideal within reason and regulation